


Timeless and Functional

by aurumdalseni (kyo_chan)



Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Future Fic, Gangsey, Gen, Gen Work, one of my favorite headcanons, this is extremely indulgent
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-30
Updated: 2020-05-30
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:01:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,580
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24456370
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kyo_chan/pseuds/aurumdalseni
Summary: For most of his life, Gansey had followed a path of circularity, coming back around to all things of importance. Places, people, things. As he stepped into the courtyard of Aglionby Academy, that feeling struck him again. He’d come back, and it was almost as if he’d never left.Aka an indulgent teacher!Gansey AU
Comments: 6
Kudos: 20
Collections: TRC/ CDTH Prompt Week 2020





	Timeless and Functional

**Author's Note:**

> Here's day 5 of the [TRC/CDTH Prompt Week](https://pynchpromptweek.tumblr.com/post/615677667456548864/trc-dreamer-trilogy-prompt-week-spring-2020)! The prompt was future AU, which was the perfect opportunity to indulge in one of my favorite future!Gansey headcanons ever. Hope you enjoy and thank you for reading!

Gansey held an aching fondness for the timeless and functional. Old clocks, old cars, old telephones, old buildings. Just when he thought he couldn’t fit anything else in his full-to-bursting heart, he ended up pleasantly surprised with another. Gansey had many jokes he could make about time, and he still called it a slinky when he was feeling nostalgic. For most of his life, he’d followed a path of circularity, coming back around to all things of importance. Places, people, things. As he stepped into the courtyard of Aglionby Academy, that feeling struck him again. He’d come back, and it was almost as if he’d never left. The boys moving about, affluent and careless, paid him little mind, only veering this way and that so they wouldn’t bump into him. Some did anyway.

Just like the old days.

This time, when he stepped into the faculty office, it was not as a student seeking conversation about kings, or a harrowed young man wanting to secure his best friend’s future.

“Mr. Gansey, is that you?”

A smile broke out onto his face as a head of wild blue-grey hair lifted up from the secretary’s desk. He and Adam had joked once that she probably had no secretary skills, but a school like Aglionby needed a name like  _ Mrs. Crabtree _ to fit their eccentric aesthetic. Gansey knew better; she practically kept this place on its feet, usually with a disapproving frown and a piece of advice no one asked for. Now Gansey thought it funny that he’d died twice while this stodgy old lady continued to handle her tasks with an immortal presence. Timeless and functional. It was, perhaps, the first time he’d ever seen her smile.

“You haven’t changed at all, young man. Are you sure you’re not late for class? We’ve reinstated the Latin program, you know.”

He paused by her desk and let her shake his hand. As a former row team captain, he respected how it felt like she could break his hand in her bony fingers. He couldn’t really say he agreed with her on not changing. Even now, Gansey felt as if the last time he’d stepped into Aglionby had been a lifetime ago. He and his friends found it funny how literal that could be.

“I’m quite sure, since we’ve another two days before orientation. And yes! I was very pleased to hear about the Latin course resuming. It’s a language that should be preserved. You did make sure the new instructor didn’t have a criminal record, didn’t you?”

Mrs. Crabtree made a sound somewhere between a tsk and a shush, swatting at him. He dodged good-naturedly and turned on his most charming smile.

“You are going to be trouble, aren’t you?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” he laughed. “Which office is mine?”

“We set you up in the basement, I hope you like spiders.”

“Infinitely more than I like bees.”

She rummaged around in one of her drawers until she produced an old brass key, thrusting it at him. “2B. You already know how to find it. Get out of here before I write you up on the first day.”

“You’re the best, Mrs. Crabtree.”

He couldn’t help picture the grin on Adam’s face whenever they joked about her. She waved him off, already fussing with another stack of papers. He idly wondered how many scholarship boys there’d be this school year. He made a mental note to find out as he turned on his heel to find his office. The key felt good in his hand. Gansey still loved old keys; not all of him had changed so drastically.

His phone buzzed in his pocket as he headed down the hallway.

**Henry:** pictures or it didn’t happen. we talked about this.

2B was a door painted in a faded green with the numbers in smudged gold brass below a frosted window. Gansey reached up to run his fingertips over it, glancing over his shoulder as if someone would catch him being fond. Two days before orientation, any of the students moving in probably wanted nothing to do with the teachers until it was absolutely required. Gansey could live this moment peacefully, and he took his time sliding the key into the lock, committing the way it made his heart twinge to memory. This was his now. A future he’d dared himself not to run away from, a future that even now, he worried might be taken from him. Gansey had changed enough to learn how to choose his words better, how to differentiate money from compassion, and to live life as if he could lose it, but also as if he wouldn’t.

It smelled musty inside the modest office, but he didn’t dislike it. Whoever had occupied it before him had left behind empty bookshelves that had gathered dust, but less of it where all the books had been. It took Gansey no time at all to imagine his language books here, a few of his favorite Glendower texts to take down when he hit a block with his lesson plans. He grinned.  _ Lesson plans _ . He winced when dropping his bag onto one of the “guest” chairs in front of his desk raised a cloud of dust. He moved to the little window at the far side of the room and opened it. Sunlight on the dust motes made him think of the Barns, and he snapped a picture of his expectant desk and empty, hungry shelves.

**Ronan:** cool, if you’re into that.

**Adam:** Is that even in question?

**Blue:** i need an inhaler just looking at it.

**Henry:** is this what they call a fixer-upper?

Gansey shook his head at his phone, about to set it down when it went off again.

**Ronan:** you did it, you crazy fuck.

**Adam:** Congratulations, Gansey

**Blue:** make me proud.

**Henry:** i can’t wait to see what insurrections you incite among today’s youth.

Gansey blinked furiously against the dust as it stung his eyes. He wished he’d had the forethought to bring something he could clean with. Mrs. Crabtree could probably point him to some cleaning supplies, but for the moment, he just wanted to be in this space, breathing this musty air. It was his, after all, the tiniest kingdom in this glorious mess of the rich and mildly corrupted. He’d known for a long time that magic existed in the world, but his friends had shown him he could touch it. Not just in magical forests, but underneath their skin. Adam and Ronan had shown him what that magic could do to make the world both safer and more dangerous. Blue and Henry had shown him what that magic could do to make the world better. His future had been a vast expanse of horizons. Gansey felt like he could have gone anywhere, but he’d chosen Aglionby. He’d chosen Henrietta.

Oh, the ley line.

It had known his intent once he returned to the Barns for good. It knew his heart almost better than he did. In his veins pumped the last of Cabeswater’s sacred life, and it was bound to this line too.  _ Home _ , he’d thought, as soon as he’d stepped back onto the line.  _ Home _ , he’d thought the moment he saw Ronan sitting on the trunk of the BMW at the Barns.  _ Home _ , he thought when he stood here.

The ladies at 300 Fox Way had shown him how magic could protect. Maura had given him a judging look when he’d shown her his signed offer letter from Headmaster Childs, but then hugged him and told him he’d better work on his shields. Now he stood by the closed door, tracing the frame lovingly. He closed his eyes, reaching for the ley line and the wisdom of the trees that kept his heart beating. He would never be as good at this as Adam or Blue or her family, but he knew what he wanted, and he’d been taught that intention made up for a lot of what he lacked. Intention and thoughtful wording. Listening for any sounds outside that might interrupt, he took a deep breath.

“This space is mine,” he murmured, “and within it, safety. Allow me to protect those who need it, repel those with intent to harm. Let me teach and be taught. This space is mine, and within it, safety.”

For good measure, he knocked on the door frame three times.  _ Important things come in threes, Gansey _ , Blue had told him. He felt better when he opened his eyes. Turning back to his desk, he let out a sigh. There was so much that still needed to be done, including the cleaning. He had lesson plans to finish, things to bring in from home, a very thorough walkabout to refamiliarize himself with the campus. That, he decided, was the best he would save for last. Now that he was faculty, so many more doors literally and figuratively presented themselves to be opened and explored. The quest for Glendower had left little room in his mind for other explorations, but now? Aglionby surely had its own magic; he could already feel it. Every decision that had led him here had been the right one, and his chest swelled with the potential of it.

His phone lit up.

**Adam:** I felt that.

Gansey let out a giddy little laugh and typed,  _ I should hope so. _ He appraised his office one more time, then got to work.

**Author's Note:**

> Come say hello or yell at me about TRC over at [my blog](http://oldkingyounggod.tumblr.com)!


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